Ep. 24: Christian Picciolini: Reformed White Supremacist now leading the fight against extremism

Christian Picciolini is an Emmy Award-winning director and producer, a published author, a TEDx speaker, and a reformed extremist.  He is the co-founder of Life After Hate, a non-profit organization dedicated to finding long-term solutions that counter racism and violent extremism.  His latest book is titled White American Youth: My Descent into America’s Most Violent Hate Movement – and How I Got Out.

 

Some interesting insights from this episode:

  • “Hatred is born of ignorance. Fear is its father and isolation is its mother.”
  • Hear about the tactics hate groups use to recruit.
  • The birth of his children was the impetus he needed to reprioritize his values and walk away from his former life.
  • The first step in counseling others to leave the extremist movement is just listening.
  • The people who join the extremist movement aren’t generally swayed initially by their philosophy. Most are just searching for identity, community and purpose.
  • Learn how the African American who forgave him for the physical violence he once caused was the trigger that gave him the courage to tell his story to the world.
  • The way we can help is to show compassion to those who deserve it the least because those are the ones who need it the most.
  • “Excellence is being the best human being that you can be.”

 

Show Notes

Christian’s book: White American Youth: My Descent into America’s Most Violent Hate Movement – and How I Got Out  https://www.amazon.com/White-American-Youth-Americas-Movement/dp/0316522902/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1515354532&sr=8-1&keywords=christian+picciolini

Christian’s website: www.christianpicciolini.com

Christian’s one on one talk with Richard Spencer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0U5zCbwFizA

Ep. 18: Anders Ericsson: The Expert on Experts

Anders is a professor of psychology at Florida State University where he specializes in the science of peak performance.  His groundbreaking research has been featured in many publications including Scientific American, Time, Fortune, Wall Street Journal and New York Times.  His most recent book is called Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise.

 

Some interesting insights from this episode:

  • The Malcolm Gladwell “10,000 hour rule” (i.e. it takes 10,000 hours to become world class at something) stems from Anders’ research. But it’s not necessarily 10,000 hours and it’s not any kind of practice.
  • Learn what is meant by “deliberate practice”.
  • The success of the Navy’s Topgun (fighter pilot training program) largely stemmed from the methodology behind deliberate practice.
  • The brain can be rewired to extend its capabilities at any age.
  • There is no such thing as natural talent.
  • Learn how building mental representations can dramatically improve performance.
  • For many fields, the workday is far too long. It is very hard to maintain intense focus and concentration for more than 3 or 4 hours a day.

Ep. 17: Jeff Seder: The scout behind Triple Crown winner American Pharoah

Jeff Seder is the founder and CEO of EQB, a consulting firm which advises thoroughbred racehorse owners. He utilizes proprietary big data analytics to predict the success of racehorses, most notably the 2015 triple crown winner American Pharoah.  He has his undergraduate, law and business degrees all from Harvard and he currently resides on a farm in Pennsylvania.

 

Some interesting insights from this episode:

  • Learn how he used utilized big data to predict the success of American Pharoah, the first Triple Crown winner in 37 years.
  • Success is all about hard work: “It took 35 years and $7 million to become an overnight success.”
  • On why competitors haven’t replicated his methods: “I can give someone a violin and an instruction manual but they’re not going to play a symphony right away.”
  • On following your passion: “My Harvard professor asked me what I was passionate about and I said ‘horses.’”
  • Learn how he used a slow motion camera to study the U.S. Olympic bobsled team and help them turn the tide and start winning medals for the first time.
  • “Excellence is learning your instrument and then forgetting it all and just wailing.”

 

 

 

 

 

Ep. 14: Dave Perkins: Master Whiskey Entrepreneur

Dave Perkins is the Founder and former CEO of High West Distillery, a craft whiskey producer.  He sold the company in 2016 after 12 years to Constellation Brands for $160 million.  He had a successful career in biotech marketing prior to that.  He lives in Park City, Utah.

 

Some interesting insights from this episode:

 

  • Learn how his biotech background prepared him for building a whiskey business from scratch.
  • He moved to Utah to start the company despite the state’s tight liquor laws.
  • He chose to become a distiller, not just a blender, despite the much larger investment and longer waiting period.
  • Learn how good contingency planning can help mitigate risk in a startup.
  • In addition to hard work, good planning and a distinctive product, serendipity played a key role in his success.
  • Excellence is taking pride in your work and giving it your best.

Ep. 12: Morris Robinson: Opera Star

Morris Robinson is a world-renowned bass opera singer.  He has regularly performed at the Metropolitan Opera as well as opera houses all over the world.  He is also a highly regarded concert singer and has performed with many of the well-known symphony orchestras across the United States.  He is a graduate of the Citadel and currently resides in Atlanta with his wife and son.

 

Some interesting insights from this episode:

  • A 3 time All American football standout in college, at 6’3” and 290 pounds, he was deemed too small to make it in the NFL.
  • Learn why he quit the corporate world cold turkey to pursue a singing career.
  • If you do what you love, you’ll never have to work a day in your life.
  • Learn how football helped prepare him for a career in the opera.
  • Talent is important but it’s not everything. You have to be willing to make sacrifices, work hard and apply yourself to achieve something great.
  • “If you have a dream, you have a right to go after it.”
  • “If you give your best at whatever you do, the product will be excellence.”

 

To some, Morris Robinson can be an intimidating presence.  He’s a big and powerful looking guy. Remember Popeye’s powerful nemesis Bluto?  Sort of like him.  There is also no pretense about Morris.  When he showed up for our interview, he was wearing workout shorts, a t-shirt and sandals.  If I told you that he’s an ex 3 time all American collegiate football player, that probably wouldn’t be much a surprise.  But if I then told you he’s now one of the great bass opera singers of our generation, you’d probably do a double take.  And Morris would have it no other way.

Morris has always relished the dichotomy of his existence – a 6’3”, 290 pound aggressive offensive lineman on the one hand and a talented performance artist on the other.  Those two seemingly contrasting personas have been a part of his identity throughout his life.  Even today with his football playing days well behind him, he certainly doesn’t “look” or “act” the part of a world-renowned opera singer (not that I personally know any of them).  An image of a polished, clean-shaven and formally dressed sophisticate driving a Mercedes may come to mind but certainly not a casually dressed, scruffy-looking former athlete driving around town in a Hummer.  That’s one of the things I love about Morris Robinson – he is who he is and he makes no apologies.

So what do you do when you finally come to the realization that your lifelong dream of playing football in the NFL isn’t in the cards?  Like most of us, you do what you feel you have to do to make your way in the world.  That is, you settle.  For Morris, that meant getting a job in corporate sales for a technology company.  That is what he did for seven tedious years until he woke up one day and felt empty inside.  Despite his success at it, the passion just wasn’t there.  He knew deep inside that it wasn’t in God’s plan for him to spend the rest of his days toiling away in corporate America.

His wife Denise also noticed that the spark was missing which is why, unbeknownst to Morris, she had secretly set up an interview for him at the prestigious Choral Arts Society of Washington.  The Director fell in love with his beautiful voice upon the very first note.  And that’s all it took for Morris to embark upon a new journey to rediscover this remarkable gift he had always had but which had laid dormant for many years.  It wasn’t so obvious at first how he could leverage his vocal talent into a career but that was beside the point.  Corporate sales had become a grind and he needed some excitement in his life.  With singing, he got just that.

With a voice as naturally sweet and powerful as his, it didn’t take long for Morris to get discovered.  But the road from salesman to opera star wasn’t an easy one. Talent notwithstanding, becoming an opera singer meant going back to school, both literally and figuratively.  He had to relearn how to sing operatically.  He had to learn how to act.  He had to learn multiple foreign languages (most operas are in Italian and German).  And he had to learn how to take critique. And lots of it.  While he had the advantage of a beautiful voice, singing opera is not something you just do.  It would be years of hard work and sacrifice and swallowing his pride to learn this difficult craft and make it as a professional opera singer.

So why did he do it?  Why did he decide to take this risk and essentially start over when he was already well ensconced in his corporate career?  Because according to Morris, “If you have a dream, you have the right to go after it.”  And he believed in himself.  His attitude from day one was that if someone else could do it, then he could do it too.  In his heart of hearts, he knew that if he wanted something badly enough and was willing to truly devote himself to it, he could accomplish anything.  No goal would be beyond his reach, even if that goal were as bold and audacious as becoming a world-renowned bass opera singer.

Ep. 8: Jay Faison: Serial Entrepreneur and Visionary Philanthropist

Jay Faison is the Founder and Chairman of SnapAV, a high growth technology company that designs and distributes audio-video products. SnapAV has been on the Inc 500 List for several years and was acquired by General Atlantic in 2013 for around $200 million.  He is also the Founder and CEO of ClearPath Foundation, whose mission is to accelerate conservative clean energy solutions.  Jay has received many accolades including the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year for the Southeast region award and Politico’s Top 50 visionaries transforming American politics.

Some interesting insights from this episode:

  • How his ADHD is a contributing factor to his entrepreneurial nature.
  • The biggest challenge in scaling the company was himself.
  • Intellectual humility is a key to growing as a leader.
  • Find a niche that others aren’t in so at least if you’re swinging for the fences, there aren’t any other batters to worry about.
  • Why he decided to give away the vast sum of his wealth while still in his 40’s.
  • How his pattern recognition allows him to see around corners where others can’t.
  • “If you don’t know where you’re going, you’re probably not going to get there.”

 

When you’re running a small audio/video business and being overcharged and underserved by your suppliers, what do you do?  If you’re like most people, you get angry and frustrated and complain.  But not if you’re Jay Faison.  Because if you’ve got the mind of an entrepreneur like Jay, you see that broken supply chain not as a problem but as an opportunity.  And you seize upon it.  And that is how SnapAV was born.

Why didn’t anyone else see this obvious disintermediation play to create the Amazon of the audio video industry?  Jay has a unique gift of pattern recognition.  Some people who are incredibly bright can see several moves ahead on the chess board. Jay admittedly isn’t one of them.  But Jay is able to see multiple games being played at once and can choose which one has the best odds of success.  When you’re an entrepreneur trying to disrupt an industry, that intuition can help dramatically improve the odds of success.

There’s another gift Jay possesses that few entrepreneurs have. It’s intellectual humility. When you’re intellectually humble, you can recognize your blinds spots.  And when you can see your blind spots, you know how to ask for help.  In Jay’s case, he understood that the biggest hurdle in scaling his company was himself.  Like many entrepreneurs, he was great at doing but not at leading.  He had to learn how to let go and transition from being a tactical entrepreneur to being a strategic leader.  His vision, his leadership and his grit would allow him to build and eventually sell one of the fastest growing companies in the country.

For most entrepreneurs, selling the majority ownership in your business for $200 million is an accomplishment of a lifetime.  It’s a good excuse to kick back, relax and live the good life.  Buy a few vacation homes, a couple limited production sports cars and of course a private jet for good measure. You can simply rest on your laurels and not ever have to take on the monumental challenge and stress of starting something again.  But not if you’re Jay Faison.

Jay knew that the right thing to do is to give away most of his newly acquired wealth while he’s still in the prime of his life.  Of course, the easiest thing to do would be to write checks to a bunch of non-profits.  But never one to take the easy path, he contributed $165 million into a foundation called ClearPath.  It’s mission – simply convince conservatives of the importance of clean energy.  In other words, he chose to essentially launch another startup whose goals were far more daunting that those of his for-profit venture.

It hasn’t been easy.  The environment has become a very polarizing issue and while capital has provided him access to key people in Washington, convincing them to create and adopt environmentally friendly legislation has been a grind.  He’s well aware that success won’t happen overnight.  But he continues to chop away at it with the guiding philosophy that “we don’t inherit the Earth from our parents but rather, we borrow it from our children”.  It’s hard work but it’s well worth it.  Because according to Jay, when you’re trying to change the world, there’s simply a satisfaction you can’t get anywhere else.

Ep. 7: Steve Koonin: Atlanta Hawks CEO and Marketing Mastermind

Steve has been CEO of the Atlanta Hawks since 2014. After just his first year with the team, the Hawks led the league in annual attendance gains and set single-season franchise records for retail sales, sellouts and season ticket memberships.  Prior to joining the Hawks, Steve was the President of Turner Entertainment Networks where he oversaw the programming, marketing and strategy for TBS, TNT and several other prominent networks. Prior to Turner, he was at Coke where he served in several capacities, most recently as the Vice President of Sports and Entertainment marketing.

 

Some interesting insights from this episode:

  • If you’re selling a beverage for more per gallon than gasoline, you better infuse some magic.
  • Hear the pitch that allowed Turner to land Conan O’Brien.
  • He built TBS and TNT into mega brands in a world where brands were far and few between.
  • How he quickly turned around a drying franchise with the Hawks.
  • Two target markets – millennials and multiculturals – which were largely ignored by other sports teams became his most valuable audience.
  • Learn how to evolve a brand from awareness to likeability and “cravability”.
  • Creative ideas are his currency in the corporate world.

 

Some marketers have tons of great ideas but no ability to see the bigger picture. Other marketers are brilliant strategists but just can’t generate any novel ideas.  It is a rare marketing genius that can not only think way outside the box with an entrepreneurial  mindset but also tie those back to corporate strategy in a way that allows a company to achieve monumental leaps in brand recognition and corporate success.  That in a nutshell is the brilliance of Steve Koonin.

At Coca-Cola, he learned pretty quickly that if you’re going to offer a product with nothing more than syrup, sugar and water at a higher price than gasoline, you better infuse some magic in your marketing.  And did he ever.  Remember those dancing polar bears?  That’s Steve’s work.  Remember the Always Coca-Cola campaign?  Steve again.  Those are just two of many award winning campaigns he orchestrated that pushed the boundaries of Coke’s brand both within the U.S. and around the world.

It was that consumer packaged goods experience he gained at one of the world’s greatest marketers that allowed him to also flourish at Turner.  Back when he first joined, the cable networks which had any brand identity were mostly niche players (think Comedy Central, Animal Planet, Travel Channel).  The large networks were a mishmash of programming that had no rhyme or reason other than trying to generate large audiences.  Steve knew that the only chance to not just survive but to thrive in that industry was to take a risk and focus TNT and TBS exclusively on one genre (drama and comedy respectively).  That repositioning along with creating and acquiring exceptional content led to astronomical growth.  By the time he was done, TNT and TBS was generating more profits than all the major networks combined.

The remarkable turnaround he led at Turner might only be surpassed by the even more spectacular one he’s achieved at the Hawks.  The Hawks were a dying franchise when he signed on as the new CEO.  There was no excitement, no energy, no magic.   I wouldn’t merely say the Hawks were a weak brand.  It would be more accurate to describe the team as not having any brand.  But all that changed with Steve’s marketing magic.

So how does one turn around a dying franchise in record speed?  You start with knowing who your audience is.  The Hawks, along with most other professional NBA sports franchises, had mostly catered to upper middle class whites since that’s who held the disposable income.  But Steve and his team saw that there were two important demographics who love sports had been largely ignored in the past– millennials and multi-culturals.  So those became the two primary audiences to which most of the marketing would be directed going forward.

Millennials are more wired than any other generation so social media because the primary channel through which to reach them.  The engagement they’ve created with their social media campaigns has been astounding.  The Hawks are now consistently on Google’s list of the 10 most searched sports teams (the only NBA teams higher were Golden State and Cleveland) and the number 1 NBA team to follow on Twitter.   But it’s not just about reaching them.  You have to create “cravability” as Steve puts it.  That means coming up with fun, innovative, digitally-oriented programming that speaks to them in their own unique voice.  “Swipe Right Night” (an obvious play on Tinder) and “I’m having a secret love affair with the Hawks” (ala Ashley Madison) are just two of many standout examples.

Steve is full on sage advice.  The key to leadership?  Build the right environment and then get out of the way.  The key to hiring?  Focus on chemistry.  Skills can always be taught.  But what was likely the wisest and most heartfelt advice of all?  The advice he’d give to himself if he could go back in time.  Enjoy the moments more. You just never know when it’s all going to end.  My advice for Steve: heed your own advice and enjoy the moments more.  After a brilliant career spread across decades, you’ve more than earned the right.

 

Ep. 5: Michael Coles: The Cookie King

Michael Coles is a successful entrepreneur, investor, advisor and community leader.  He co-founded The Great American Cookie Company and grew it into the largest franchisor of cookie stores with 350 locations and sales of over $100 million when he sold the company.  He was also the CEO of Caribou Coffee which became a publicly traded company.  He is a big supporter of Kennesaw State University, whose business program is fittingly named the Michael J Coles College of Business.

 

Some interesting insights from this episode:

  • How he turned $8,000 into a $100 million cookie empire.
  • One minor detail almost derailed his entire business on opening day.
  • How a near fatal motorcycle accident inspired him to set a transcontinental bicycle record.
  • “If it ain’t broke, you haven’t looked hard enough.”
  • It’s not about being the biggest but being the best.
  • “The biggest handicaps we face are the limitations we place on our vision and our imagination.”
  • Real learning comes from understanding our personal responsibility with setbacks instead of blaming others

 

There are two levels of entrepreneurialism for kids.  The one that 99% of kids fall into which is the “go hustle and make a buck” kind.  Delivering papers on a route, raking leaves, etc.  Then there’s the 1% who have the vision and hustle to go to the next level of securing all the contracts with the homes in the neighborhood and then hiring all the other kids to service those homes.  That’s Michael Coles for you. His entrepreneurial brilliance shone through at a very young age.  Michael realized the real money wasn’t in raking leaves or shoveling snow.  It was managing the leave rakers and snow shovelers.  It wasn’t hard to see how the future career of Michael Coles would unfold.

He never set out to build a cookie empire.  His goal when he opened his first cookie store was a modest one – simply to bring in some extra income while trying to figure out his next career move.   But there was one little problem.  Michael was way too savvy of an entrepreneur and the industry was way too stagnant for him to settle for just a little extra income.  While most the cookie store owners operated as bakers, Michael saw this opportunity through the lens of a retailer.  He expanded the merchandise offerings, added promotions, introduced cross-selling and upselling and started sampling.  These days such commonplace retailing strategies are straight out of the merchandising 101 playbook but not back in the 70’s and 80’s and not in the cookie business.  Michael reinvented the way bakery products were marketed and sold.

While his vision and tenacity allowed him to persevere in the end and build a thriving business, like with any good story, he had his fair share of setbacks along the way.  The biggest one was a near-fatal motorcycle accident just a few weeks into starting the company.  He was lucky to be alive but was told that we would never walk again unaided.  For most people, such a fire prognosis often becomes a self-fulfilling one and they’ll be content to lead the rest of their lives as a cripple.  But not Michael.  He was so driven to prove the doctors wrong that he not only fully recovered but actually increased his exercise regimen from before the accident.  He picked up a bicycle, which he hadn’t done since he was a kid, and started riding.  And riding.  And riding.  He rode across the state of Georgia and didn’t stop peddling until he reached San Diego.  He ended up setting a new transcontinental bike record which would be broken just a few years later… by Michael once again.

As many endurance athletes can attest to, the benefits of exercise usually spill over into other parts of one’s life. Such was the case with Michael.  He came back from record-setting rides refreshed and hungrier than ever.  He was suddenly able to see the business in an entirely new light.  Sure, the business was doing fine.  It was profitable and growing.  But fine wasn’t good enough.  The market was evolving, the competition was increasing but The Great American Cookie Company more or less stayed the same.  So he reengineered the business from the ground up – new recipes, a modernized store design and better training just to name a few areas.  It wasn’t about being the biggest but the best.  These changes allowed him to scale the business to over $100 million in revenue and the rest, as they say, is cookie history.

While Hollywood couldn’t write a better script than Michael’s wild success in the cookie business, not every story in his life would have such a Hollywood ending.  He took over the helm of Caribou Coffee but while he doubled the size of the business and took the company public, the stock took a tumble.  Running a public company with the constant pressure of meeting quarterly expectations was not a great experience.  And his bids for the U.S. House and Senate would not prove successful.  But he’s the first to tell you that we learn more from our setbacks than we do from our successes.  Real learning comes from understanding our personal responsibility with such setbacks as opposed to blaming others.

Michael is one of a kind.  He’s more than earned the right to pack it in and enjoy the good life.  But he’s still very active sitting on Boards, mentoring first time entrepreneurs and overseeing multiple philanthropic efforts.  He’s as passionate today about giving back as he was about business success over the course of his illustrious career.  He’s made his mark in many areas but he’ll forever be known as the Cookie King.